Thursday, January 27, 2011

News that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint will travel to Iowa on March 26 to address a conservative forum organized by Rep. Steve King is sparking another round of chatter that DeMint might launch a dark horse bid for the White House in 2012........

..............several of his closest advisers and political confidantes are now telling CNN that he is at least open to a presidential bid if a suitably conservative candidate fails to emerge from the early and wide-open GOP field......

.........."He would certainly be the odds on favorite here (South Carolina)," said Terry Sullivan, a South Carolina GOP consultant and longtime DeMint adviser. "He wouldn't be slam dunk, but he is definitely the favorite."

19 comments:

several of his closest advisers and political confidantes are now telling CNN that he is at least open to a presidential bid if a suitably conservative candidate fails to emerge from the early and wide-open GOP field......

Does that mean that Mitt is no longer "suitably conservative"?

I know, I know. Stalking horse argument. He's been on record almost as many times as Christie as saying he's not running.

TC,That is one possibility. Another possibility is that they don't think Romney can beat Huckabee without some assistance??? McCain won because conservatives couldn't rally around one candidate. It has been rumored that Fred was solicited to help McCain last time. Maybe someone in the Romney camp has been doing the same???

I have nothing to base this on and am merely speculating different reasons why former supporters would consider running against him. I ask questions all of the time. My dad always told me the only truly foolish questions are those that you don't ask. That advice has gotten me in a lot of trouble. But, I usually come out knowing more than I knew before going in.

The polling they do next week should be interesting. I fully expect DeMint to do well in his homestate - like Pawlenty does in his, and Mitt does in his. Arkansas won't be much help if Huckabee decides to run with them deciding to go back to their June date for the primary.

IF Huckabee wins Iowa, Romney wins NH and Nevada, and DeMint (or Newt) win SC wouldn't that put more emphasis on some of the Super Tuesday and/or other early states? Of course there are no guarantees that things will remain the same as the polling has shown.

Palin likes DeMint, and they are both generally liked by the TPM. Me too. A while ago, Palin said that if somebody runs that she can support, she may do just that. I think Sarah would otherwise be a ‘reluctant leader’. (The best kind.) So if DeMint runs, and he shows he’s good enough for Sarah to support, she might think of it as a godsend, and not a nightmare at all.

Then again, she might still think she’s needed, and run. Either way, I pray for what’s best for our country.

I get a kick out of all of this talk about Huckabee winning this, or Hucakbee losing that. Exactly what evidence can you provide that he's running for president? Perhaps you can cling to a couple comments about how he's not closing the door, or his book tour stops (designed to sell more books, no doubt), but the evidence pointing to him not running is overwhelming.

How many primary states (not caucus) did Romney win last time compared to Huckabee? How well did each of them do in "primary" rather than "caucus" states they didn't win that we should have any reasonable hope of winning against Obama?

Romney was much better funded and much better known than Huckabee was last time around. But, in all reality Romney didn't win a single state that didn't have some type of "home-state" title. Huckabee was known as the "unelectable/regional candidate". His recent polling has proven that wrong. If Romney wouldn't have "stolen" so many conservative votes from Huckabee last time - Huckabee could have either been elected President or been the sacrificial lamb. (Sorry - I was getting flashbacks of all the comments I read in '08 saying that Huckabee stole the nomination from Romney.)

Right Wingnut,Everything points to Sarah running. A while ago it seemed she was hoping someone else would rise to the occasion and at the time some thought it might be DeMint.

Palin is the best we have as far as beating Obama. In the top tier, she is the one that has been consistently the opposite of Obama. She will dominate debates. With less than two months of national experience, she beat Biden with his decades of national experience. In 2012, when she will have been on the national scene for three years, Obama doesn’t have a chance.

Nothing is for sure in life. That goes for DeMint endorsing Romney in 2012!

However, if I was a betting man, I would say he will. Until he endorses someone, I would look at the following clues:

1. He was Chairman of Romney's exploratory committee in 2007.2. Every time he's asked about who he thinks would be a good President, Mitt Romney's name STILL comes up on the top of his list in interviews.3. Romney hasn't done anything since 2008 to change his opinion of him.4. Romney endorsed DeMint's run this year.

Well Bosman, I will not debate your 2nd and 4th point. However the fact that he was chairman way back in 2007 do not mean a whole lot to me today. I know many 2008 Romneyites who will not likely back him this time. By the same token, many people who back him now, did not do so last time. So in short, circumstances change and people support different candidates.

As for point 3, Mr. Romney may not in deed do anything to change Mr. DeMint's opinion of him, but that is not the point per se. The field of candidates have changed and the country has change. One cannot necessarily stand still when the world around them changes. True Mr. DeMint may not in deed change camps, but it certainly is no guarenteed that he won't either especially in view of the fact that circumstances are different.